Microsoft's browser ballot, just released in Europe last month, has hurt its browser market share, say market researchers.

What helps Mozilla and Opera hurt Microsoft

Europe's
over 200 million Windows computers will be getting an important
update courtesy of Microsoft. The update will give
consumers the power to choose their default browser right out of the
box -- something Microsoft never did before.

Elsewhere,
Windows starts with Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser loaded as
the default browser. You can change to another browser for your
default, but only after you would have to personally go to the
browser maker's page on the web and download the installer.
Many customers instead opt to simply stick with Internet
Explorer.

New reports indicate that these
gains came
at Microsoft's expense. Internet Explorer lost 2.5 percent
marketshare in France, 1 percent in Britain, and 1.3 percent in Italy
since February, according to the market research firm
Statcounter.

Opera, on the other hand, says its downloads
have doubled across Europe for the month and tripled
in Italy, Spain and Poland. The release of Opera 10.5
accounts for some of this boost, but the sheer number of new
downloads is unusual and a sign that the ballot screen may be helping
the third parties.

Mozilla, the world's second
largest browser maker, did not release a new browser, but did report
gains of its own. Describes a Mozilla spokesperson, "We
have seen significant growth in the number of new Firefox users as a
result of the Ballot Choice screen. We expect these numbers to
increase as the Ballot Choice screen fully rolls out across all
countries."

Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari are
featured on the ballot screen's first page, in addition to Internet
Explorer. Smaller browsers are also featured if you scroll
over, but the small browser companies aren't
satisfied with this.

States Flock, a small European
browser maker, "To date, new downloads of Flock originating from
the browser choice screen have only contributed marginally to growth
in overall downloads. This is also the case for the other browsers
not on the main screen."

Microsoft doesn't want to change
the ballot screen, but the smaller browser makers are lobbying the EU
to force it to make more changes. Describes Flock, "We
hope that the changes recommended in our urgent petition to the
European Commission are implemented so that all the browsers that
have been placed to the right of the main screen will have a
reasonable chance of being found and considered by European
consumers."

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